Greet'ings!

I was at the top of Cross of Greet yesterday morning at 9.00am and legged it at a 'stop-start' snails pace with some detours down to Greet Bridge to cover a section of the bottom half of Bloe Greet and returned by the same route to arrive back at the motor six hours later at 3.00pm. 

With an hour of free time left, on the way back to Lancaster I called in at Bull Beck to take a look upstream on the River Lune to find 4 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, uncounted Sand Martin, and a young Robin.

A Bit Of Class In Bowland. Pete Woodruff. 

Some nice machines passed me in the afternoon in the Cross of Greet area when about 12 vintage motors like this one were heading towards Slaidburn. Only around 30 cars drove over this brilliant remote pass in the entire six hours I spent in this area of outstanding natural beauty.

I counted an absolute minimum of 50 Meadow Pipit, an abundant species which outnumbers all other upland birds several times over. Conversely I saw just 5 Wheatear compared to good double figure numbers in previous years here, 2 Reed Bunting, and 5 Black-headed Gull were noted heading towards Stocks Reservoir. At and around Bloe Greet, 4 Whinchat, a solitary male Stonechat, and the rewarding sight of 2 Cuckoo which passed me in flight, about two hours later I heard one of them - or a third bird - calling from the old quarry. At the plantation, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and 3 Robin noted. I was also rewarded by the brief view of an Adder, a young individual which disappeared in a matter of seconds at the same speed it had appeared before me.

Curlew Brian Rafferty  

A pair of Curlew were flying around calling and agitated all the time I was on Bloe Greet, presumably with young like the one in BR's brilliant image for which I am grateful.

The Young River Hodder. Pete Woodruff.

The abundant clear running waters of the River Hodder and its tributaries were just what the thirsty towns along the Fylde coast were in need of a century ago, and these emote uplands were eyed up by the city fathers of Blackpool for something other than their natural beauty, and this land was among nearly 3,750 hectares of water-gathering land bought up by the then Fylde Water Board to create the nearby Stocks Reservoir. Some 105 million litres of Stocks water goes cascading through pipes to places like Blackpool and Fleetwood every day.

Not a thousand birds seen again today, but in this stunning area which - along with the birds I did see - took my breath away once more.

Another bit of depression....

....but don't fret there are some brilliant pics too, in any case I'm going to keep 'the depression' brief and void of too much waffle.

I'm determined to have the benefit of a blog to pump out the news now and again about the kind of problems our wildlife look set to endure for evermore....perhaps you'd like to take a look at THIS 

If you visit the vast upland areas of Bowland as I often do you can't fail to come across traps, cages, and people with guns to 'control' just about anything that can possibly be labelled a 'pest', not least of all if its a raptor or a corvid, but also if its a Fox, Stoat, Weasel and more, I even came across a trap recently which I discovered was to catch a Grey Squirrel. OK....so what's the problem with a Grey Squirrel in Bowland, it's as if you name it and its a problem and a pest if it comes into contact with the Red Grouse and the Pheasant the 'Darling birds of Bowland', and certainly is if it's 'suspected' of having them on the menu....but a Grey Squirrel!

Well I said I'd keep it brief and you will have noted the joke about this 'person' in Scotland who was fined £450 for being responsible for the unnecessary death of the Buzzard which was his intention in the first place....wasn't it, well he did'nt release the bird - a protected wild creature - from a cage, in any case his employer will probably earn that much by the day - and more - and he'll pay the fine anyway....this is called justice, in this case for the Buzzard.

On a lighter note, and to celebrate the Spain 4 Italy 0 Euro 2012 result, heres another 3 from Spain to make it 7-0 which is what the score would have been had either of these teams played England.

Great-spotted Cuckoo Ana Minguez

If you're living in the UK like me you'll need to be lucky to get this one in your book of ticks. The Great-spotted Cuckoo, this one is a juvenile. The first record of GSC in Britain was in 1870 in Northhumberland, though one was found in Ireland 28 years earlier in 1842 at  Omey Island, Galway. 

Penduline Tit Isidro Ortiz

And another the Penduline Tit, you'll need some luck to see one of these in the UK though certainly possible as an accidental here, the first record of which was only claimed  46 years ago in 1966 at Spurn, East Yorkshire. 

Crested Tit Antonio Puigg

The Crested Tit, is largely confined to the ancient Caledonian Pine Forests and Scots Pine Plantations. Thanks to AM/IO/AP for these excellent images.